Charleston 47, Valley Springs 39

BOYS — Charleston jumped out to a 15-2 lead to start the game and cruised home with a first-round win in the Class 3A State Tournament.

Matthew Ward scored 22 points and Ty Storey added 16 for Charleston (29-5) which advanced to the quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. Monday. Charleston was ousted in the quarterfinals last year.

"I thought we came out and played with a lot of intensity early," Charleston coach B.J. Ross said. "We might have let off the gas a little bit and let them get back in it. We missed 18 free throws and that is something we don’t usually do. But a win is a win and that’s about all you can say about it. We’re glad to be moving on to the next round."

Charleston led 19-8 after the first quarter and 29-17 at the half. Valley Springs stayed within single digits for most of the fourth quarter.

Keeton Tennison kept Valley Springs (25-10) in the game with 42 points.

Storey had 11 in the first half to spark Charleston’s start.

"Everybody is going to key on Matthew and we have to have some other guys get some points," Ross said. "Ty had a nice game, he has been a little rusty after missing all of last year but is getting better and better."

GIRLS — Under the pressure of a state tournament, taking care of the ball and hitting your free throws in the fourth quarter are tried-and-true ways to win.

Paris did both on Friday, hitting 17-of-22 from the line with no turnovers in the last four minutes of the game to pull away from a 28-28 tie and bank first-round win.

"After last week at regionals, we felt like we needed to work on our end-of-game situations," Paris coach Toby Tevebaugh said. "We didn’t do a real good job of it last time out, but that was much more like it today."

With both teams running patient offenses, the game was tied at 28 with four minutes to play when Paris began a 19-8 run. Paris hit nine straight free throws to push ahead 39-30 with 1:15 left.

"I thought we kept composure well, especially for a state game," Tevebaugh said. "And I was impressed by how they were in the locker room after the game. They weren’t going crazy, they were very business-like."